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Writing is definitely a troublesome, hard-earned journey. It never seems to be easy when it comes to it all – the writing, reading, editing, re-editing – there is just always something to be done. That can also be quite overwhelming when it comes to thinking about if you will ever get published or not, and eventually that can sometimes lead to you hitting the horrid wall we all face at some point: Writer’s Block.

But there is a single key to that is going to help you easily overcome all of that. Which is excitement.

I know what you’re thinking. “I’ve decided to write this novel/collection and I am willing to put in the effort and all the gruel work that is gonna have to go with it. Of COURSE I am excited about the outcome of all this!”

And I very well do believe you. You probably are. But the hardest thing can simply be staying excited all the way through the writing process. Because when it comes to long journeys there is always the chance that at some point you will wander a little off course.

SO that whole long introduction was simply for me to explain why I am sharing with you some ways to get excited about your novel again when the creative juices seem to be dwindling a little bit…

COVER TIME!

Every novel needs a beautiful cover where readers look at it and just think I NEED TO READ THAT in their minds. If you’re into drawing and photography, you can design your own. Or maybe you can find a friend who would want to design one for you. But covers are important! People say never judge a book by its cover. Which you shouldn’t! But people also lie 😉

READING TIME!

This is one that doesn’t work for everyone. But some people really love reading a book which is of the same genre and type. Then they can think: when I’m done with my novel, it is going to be as epic as this one! Or, if it wasn’t a great book: I can write better than that. Just watch me own this!

PUBLISHERS? AGENTS?

When you are writing to be published, it can be so motivated (and also productive in the long run!) to look into which agents might be interested in pitching your kind of book. You could also look into which publisher you would ideally like to be published with! We all have our favourites, and publishing companies are each looking for something slightly different. Start looking and make top ten lists of agents and publishers.

DEDICATIONS AND SYNOPSES

Every book has a synopsis, and some of them have dedications. Have you thought about who you want to dedicate the book to? Also, a synopsis is incredibly important – both for getting published when you are writing query letters, but also because readers might read the synopsis. And after doing so, you need to have them salivating over the book and chucking it at everyone telling them to “Read this EPIC book! Look, the synopsis tells you all about its wonderfulness!”

SPIN OFF COLLECTIONS

So many series these days publish bind ups of short stories based on the book. For example Stars Above to the Lunar Chronicles series, or Four to the Divergent series and The Bane Chronicles to The Mortal Instruments! Do you have some characters whose backstory you wouldn’t mind digging into a little bit? Or a spin off novella that might be interesting to outline while writing your book? It’s basically writing your own fanfiction, really.

CASTING LISTS

Anything you write is just gonna be a bestseller! We already know it and can’t wait to see it top the list. Which is why when your publisher approaches you and asks if you are ready for your novel to be a movie, you need to be prepared! We’ve all had moments when the movie is nothing like the book AT ALL like the Percy Jackson movies. So to avoid this happening you need to have your perfect casting list all planned out.

Hopefully all these tips will keep you motivated while writing and see you to the end of that novel/collection writing project. Have a good week!

LOL! Great post Olivia-Savannah. I dunno why but I’m not a huuuge fan of cast lists. A cover though, is a pretty good idea. I never did covers because I felt like getting stuck into making one would would distract me from writing, but when I’m stuck, EVERYTHING distracts me from writing. The one time I did make one, it was pretty exciting. I just posted another installment of that story on my blog yesterday, actually. =D
I guess a lot of the stuff you mentioned I haven’t done because it seems like it was too early to worry about it, but the excitement can be pretty motivating!